6 things to know about Collin County government so far this year

On Jan. 9 Collin County joined a growing number of counties across the state when it passed a resolution opposing a recently created web portal aimed at consolidating the database of civil court case information that has been e-filed. The portal, created by the Texas Office of Court Administration under the direction of the state’s Supreme Court, was supposed to provide a delivery system for attorneys for e-file documents to the courts—information that would only be retained for 30 days. But, the TOCA is retaining the information filed within the system and plans to make it available to attorneys and the public for a fee through re:SearchTX. County commissioners said the county and district clerks are the designated custodians of court records and are responsible for the management, preservation and access of court records. Counties are responsible for providing resources to clerks for the management of those records, officials said, adding that it is in the best interest of Collin County and its taxpayers to oppose any change to current statutes regarding care, custody and control of records held by the county and district clerks and to any actions that would result in those records being centralized within any other entity, be it public or private.